City Vehicles

Someone broke into at least nine City of Orlando vehicles during the weekend, a police report released Monday said. A supervisor at the Parks and Special Facilities Bureau on Grand Avenue found the vehicles burglarized Sunday. Surveillance video captured the suspect walking through the parking lot, rummaging through various toolboxes on the trucks and accessing unlocked vehicles. Police have not released the surveillance video or other details. The property is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and it was unknown how the suspect gained entry to the area.

An old post office that Sanford bought years ago for half a million dollars but never used is now presenting the city with another bill: the cost of tearing it down. Almost a decade ago, the city bought the post-office building on Palmetto Avenue near the Lake Monroe waterfront for $550,700 with the idea of turning it into a police substation. But the city never followed through on its plans. The one-story brick building mostly sat vacant and deteriorating after it was damaged by hurricanes in 2004.

The city commission in December 1984 approved a policy to collect mileage charges from employees who use city vehicles to commute to work.The policy was never put into effect, and the city has decided to scrap the plan.Assistant city manager-personnel director John Litton said because of a new federal tax law he is recommending the city abandon its plan to charge employees 8 cents per mile when commuting to work.Litton said he will ask that the six department directors, including the city manager, who now have city vehicles be given the option of getting a $275-per-month car allowance and be offered the chance to buy their current city vehicles.

A young woman is dead following a crash involving a Daytona Beach city vehicle Saturday evening. Killed was Hayley C. Jacobson, 19, of Daytona Beach, police reported. She collided with a city parks van driven by Percy Lentz, 47, at the intersection of Ridgewood Avenue and Madison Avenue just before 5:30 p.m. According to police, Jacobson was headed east on Madison Avenue and Lentz was northbound on Ridgewood. Jacobson was thrown from the bicycle and died on scene. Police are investigating to determine if Lentz should be ticketed or charged.

By the end of this month, children in trouble should see a safe, familiar face driving around town that they can turn to for help.The city will be the first in Florida to adopt the National McGruff Truck Program, and the first in the country to involve all city vehicles, police spokesman Patrick Simpson said.The city's 100 public works, parks and recreation and other vehicles will be plastered with the image of McGruff, the crime-fighting K-9 character, along with the message, ''We'll call for help!

Soon, city department heads will know exactly how fast their employees are driving, how much fuel they are burning, where they've been, and if they are on schedule. Within the next six to eight weeks, most of the vehicles owned by the city of Sunrise will have a Global Positioning System installed in them, which is also capable of tracking most of the cars functions – from the opening of doors to excessive acceleration and braking. "The way the system works, the GPS units will automatically upload their information to the city's database," Interim City Manager Richard Salamon said.

City vehicles from police cars to utility trucks are about to receive a juiced-up new form of fuel.The city has taken the local lead in promoting cleaner fuel sources with a planned conversion starting next week of 35 city vehicles to run on compressed natural gas.In addition to the revamped autos, a fueling station is under construction, all thanks to a state grant.The modifications should be completed by the end of January and could eventually save nearly $900 a year in fuel and maintenance costs per vehicle.

Buckle your seat belt or lose a day's pay.That's the message DeLand city officials are driving home to employees who operate city vehicles without a safety belt.To ensure compliance, tough rules - effective Tuesday - were OK'd by city commissioners this week.Violators will receive one day's suspension without pay for the first infraction, and two days' suspension without pay for the second offense.Commissioner Marshall Bone had asked city staff to review seat-belt compliances because he noticed a few city workers not wearing them while in city vehicles.

The mayor of Ormond Beach says city vehicles shouldn't use BP gas until the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is fixed and everyone is paid for their losses, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal's website. Mayor Fred Costello also is proposing that employees who are reimbursed for gas for city business no longer use BP fuel. To read the full story on http://www.news-journalonline.com, click here.

Mechanics are keeping their cool while they work under a 7,200-square-foot roof extension the city built at its garage on Virginia Avenue.City workers made a pitch for the ''big carport,'' as they call it, almost two years ago as part of Winter Park's quality improvement program. The program evaluates employee suggestions for cutting costs and improving efficiency. Mechanics said rain and heat hampered their ability to work on city vehicles outside.Because a roof extension would be less costly than a new building, the city commission agreed last fall to spend up to $60,000 on the project.

Soon, city department heads will know exactly how fast their employees are driving, how much fuel they are burning, where they've been, and if they are on schedule. Within the next six to eight weeks, most of the vehicles owned by the city of Sunrise will have a Global Positioning System installed in them, which is also capable of tracking most of the cars functions – from the opening of doors to excessive acceleration and braking. "The way the system works, the GPS units will automatically upload their information to the city's database," Interim City Manager Richard Salamon said.

Some Petaluma City Council members clearly had reservations Monday as they discussed the possibility of putting a sales tax increase before voters this fall. As well they should. It doesn't take much -- beyond the initial $15,000 to $30,000 to cover the election costs -- to ask local residents for more money. The big question is can you sell it? To do so, a city or county needs a clear message -- why the funds are needed, what the money would be used for and, most important, how the city has managed the revenue it has had up to now. Petaluma has a good story to tell about its financial challenges, but it needs to work on its central message if it hopes to have any chance of success with something as ambitious as a half-cent sales tax increase.

Someone broke into at least nine City of Orlando vehicles during the weekend, a police report released Monday said. A supervisor at the Parks and Special Facilities Bureau on Grand Avenue found the vehicles burglarized Sunday. Surveillance video captured the suspect walking through the parking lot, rummaging through various toolboxes on the trucks and accessing unlocked vehicles. Police have not released the surveillance video or other details. The property is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and it was unknown how the suspect gained entry to the area.

The mayor of Ormond Beach says city vehicles shouldn't use BP gas until the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is fixed and everyone is paid for their losses, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal's website. Mayor Fred Costello also is proposing that employees who are reimbursed for gas for city business no longer use BP fuel. To read the full story on http://www.news-journalonline.com, click here.

The Casselberry City Commission agreed Thursday to allow the owners of vans and trucks with ladder racks to keep the vehicles at home in their driveways if the ladders, pipes and other equipment usually stored on the racks are kept out of sight. Roofers, plumbers and other small-business owners complained that their livelihoods were threatened by a rule that now requires vehicles with ladder racks to be stored in a carport or garage. The commissioners agreed to the change at a work session.

KISSIMMEE -- An investigation into ousted police Chief Mark Weimer found he violated several city policies, including having subordinates run personal errands for him, according to a report released Tuesday. Weimer was fired in June, with City Manager Mark Durbin citing a lack of support for his management policies. Weimer claimed his dismissal was in retaliation for a workers' compensation claim he filed. The investigation began days after Weimer's firing, when an anonymous letter was received alleging violations of city policies and regulations.

City commissioners tonight are expected to approve a resolution letting $23,700 worth of federal revenue sharing money be used for a new fire truck, street improvements and a city playground.City Manager Roman Yoder said Wednesday the funds include $10,000 worth of street repaving for parts of Fountain, Victoria, Rose and James streets.Also, $5,700 is targeted for the city's fire truck fund, which would total $40,700 if the resolution is approved. Commissioners agree the city needs a fire truck to replace a 1957 Dodge pumper.

The city commission Tuesday approved a new policy to give six department directors a $275 monthly allowance to use their own vehicles on the job.In addition, those directors will be given the option of buying their current city vehicles.The change in the city's vehicle policy was prompted by a new federal tax law that counts the vehicles as personal income because the department directors commute in them.The six directors affected by the policy are the city manager, assistant city manager, building official, and the directors of public works, utilities and parks and recreation departments.

Two top Orlando officials have been suspended while auditors continue to investigate how a city electrician was able to make more than $133,000 in fraudulent purchases under their noses for 18 months. Police arrested maintenance supervisor Clifford B. Forrest three weeks ago on charges of second-degree grand theft. According to investigators, Forrest, who is out on bail, is accused of using a city account to buy bundles of copper wire from the city's regular supplier, then reselling it to recyclers and pocketing the cash.

City commissioners are expected to adopt a budget of nearly $15.5 million tonight that will keep the property tax rate the same as in the past five years.The budget for the year beginning Oct. 1 is more than $500,000 higher than this year's and assumes the economic boom the city is experiencing will continue.City Manager John Litton expects revenues will soar 17 percent from about 300 new homes and 400,000 square feet of new commercial space.Litton's budget includes money to hire two new police officers, three firefighter-paramedics, a full-time fire inspector and a senior planner.